Please help us continue to provide you with free, quality journalism by turning off your ad blocker on our site.

Thank you for signing in.

If this is your first time registering, please check your inbox for more information about the benefits of your Forbes account and what you can do next!

I agree to receive occasional updates and announcements about Forbes products and services. You may opt out at any time.

I'd like to receive the Forbes Daily Dozen newsletter to get the top 12 headlines every morning.

Forbes takes privacy seriously and is committed to transparency. We will never share your email address with third parties without your permission. By signing in, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Statement.

For the Targaryens, madness runs in the family, the random occurrence of which has often been described as the gods “tossing a coin.” In this episode, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the gods of this story, seemingly tossed quite a few coins.

A random coin flip does seem like the most likely explanation for all of these plot twists - it’s like all of Westeros has taken on the philosophy of Anton Chigurh.

The first coin toss of the episode results in Tyrion deciding to betray Varys. To be fair, Tyrion has not been the cunning mastermind we saw during the show’s peak for several seasons now, but his blind allegiance to Daenerys is bordering on Jorah-level, and we all know how that turned out.

His motivations only make sense if you assume that Tyrion lost his mind after the betrayal of Shae and is now idealizing Daenerys as the perfect woman, so let’s go with that. Thus, Tyrion and Jon Snow watch as their beloved queen burns her disloyal advisor alive.

Varys was, throughout the show, the only man who consistently cared for the people of Westeros. Ironically, he was a better man than Jon, in the end.

But it’s likely too late for Daenerys - Varys was shown to be writing a letter or two in the opening scene, and in the history of the show, letters have preceded massive plot twists; expect the other six kingdoms to bend the knee to Jon in the final episode.

Jon, the reluctant king, and in this episode, reluctant boyfriend, hasn’t been much of a hero of late; Daenerys has bent him into a coward. I rather like this development - Jon has always been a flawless white knight, and the fact that his iron-cast principles have been melted so easily by toxic romance makes Jon much more human; an unhinged lover tends to warp one’s perspective.

Tyrion makes sure to emphasize, multiple times, that the sound of bells mean surrender, and thus, the peaceful conquest of King’s Landing. Daenerys agrees, emphasizing mercy, but only focuses on the future. Hmm.

Tyrion then goes to commit some treason of this own, freeing Jaime and instructing him to run away with Cersei. It’s a smart way to stop the conflict before it begins, and the final farewell between the Lannister brothers is deeply touching; the two form the beating heart of the most dysfunctional family in Westeros.

But Jaime appears to be wholeheartedly embracing that dysfunction; I’m a little confused to where his love for his sister is stemming from, seeing as the boys recently had a crossbow pointed at them by Bronn, an assassin bought and paid for by Cersei Lannister. The things Jaime does for love?

The long-awaited invasion of King’s Landing begins, and Daenerys DESTROYS Cersei’s army with FIRE and BLOOD. Seriously, she destroys it the way Ben Shapiro “destroys” teary-eyed teenagers fresh out of their first sociology class. It’s not an even match - the Golden Company has about five seconds of screen time before they are turned to toast (lucky they didn’t bother bringing those elephants).

Thankfully, Euron Greyjoy finally runs out of Mary Sueness, and his fleet is annihilated in seconds. While it’s highly satisfying to see godlike might of Drogon the dragon, it’s more than a little strange that those giant crossbows no longer pose a threat.

I was under the impression that they represented a serious problem to Daenerys, a difficult roadblock she would need to overcome. But her new strategy is simply to “not get hit” this time. And … umm, it worked. So that’s that.

Stubbornly, Cersei doesn't quit, even after watching her expensive army evaporate to ash. She doesn’t want to ring those bells, but somebody more sensible does, and Daenerys hears the ringing, and another coin flips.

There's a moment in the much-derided Star Wars prequel trilogy when Anakin Skywalker, who is slowly turning to the Dark Side, is pushed over the edge after learning that his lover is doomed to die. His first truly evil act is to butcher a room full of very young children, a moment that is so ridiculously melodramatic that it warps his transformation into Darth Vader into a joke.

That scene is unintentionally hilarious because Anakin went from angsty teenager to Ted Bundy, slaughtering children one-by-one with a laser sword, a coin flipped by George Lucas.

That rapid descent into sociopathy mirrors Daenerys’ shift, who has been slowly turning into a tyrant, foreshowed for several seasons (if one focuses on her habit of burning enemies alive).

But Daenerys’ coin toss is even more unexpected than Anakin’s - at least Anakin lost his mind over the thought of losing his lover. Daenerys turns into a mass-murderer after winning. Her massive victory could have been completed by swooping to the castle and melting Cersei Lannister, but burning the innocent women and children on the ground doesn’t add up.

This barbaric practice of raping and slaughtering civilians is something that Daenerys has always strived not to do - she even tamed the Dothraki, who seem to procreate almost exclusively through rape. It’s obvious that Daenerys is not in her right mind - the patches of green Wildfire popping up throughout her dragon fire is a visual reminder that Daenerys has gone mad, just like her father, who left those deposits of Wildfire in case he ever needed to purge his citizens.

But what pushed her over the edge? It’s frustrating, because I really like the idea of Daenerys turning tyrant after being impossibly perfect for so long. She acted like a messiah in Essos, and was treated as such, but as soon as she landed in Westeros, her fortunes and reputation plummeted.

The descent into full-blown madness, however, feels rushed. Going from mild-mannered to mass-murderer took Walter White several seasons, but Daenerys did it in a few episodes, and her “breaking point” followed the most epic victory imaginable.

It would have made more sense for her second dragon, Rhaegal, to have died here, during this battle; the loss of a dragon baby might have justified the twist. The beautiful/horrifying scenes of devastation, the horrors of war unfolding are so perfectly realized, but the justification just isn’t there.

And this relentless horror is Jon’s breaking point - you can see the wheels turning, as he watches Grey Worm and his men attack unarmed soldiers and innocents. Jon appears to ask himself, “are we the bad guys?” You should have listened to Sansa, Jon. Always listen to Sansa.

Euron Greyjoy is granted one final scene, deciding that right now, while the entire city is burning and the castle is crumbling, would be a great time to have a sword fight with Jaime. Thus, Euron died as he lived, cringe-worthy to his very last line, seemingly ecstatic with the fact that he killed Jaime Lannister. But hey, at least he’s out of the story now.

As the city burns, the Hound convinces Arya that Cersei is already dead, which is a fair estimate. I've said this before, but Arya really should have been consulted on this whole “killing Cersei” thing before war was declared.

Arya wisely turns back, but the Hound has to go and do “Cleganebowl,” because Game of Thrones fans have been anticipating this showdown for a very long time. One can argue about the Hound’s real motivation to do so, but frankly, I don’t care at this point; many of the motivations are muddled right now, and I’m just going to enjoy a good brotherly battle to the death when it happens.

The fight between the two men is, hilariously, preceded by the rapid demise of Qyburn. Qyburn, the genius behind Cersei Lannister's triumphs, responsible for the death of a dragon, is killed by a quick shove from his Frankenstein's monster.

Cersei just kind of awkwardly walks away as the brothers have their fan fiction fight, and the showdown is much like the final boss battle of a video game, a burning, crumbling castle providing some suitably dramatic scenery, the Mountain’s health bar obscenely large.

But the Hound eventually takes him down, the two consumed by fire, mirroring the way the Mountain burnt the Hound so long ago. It’s odd that the Hound, little more than a likable side-character, was granted such an epic end to his character arc.

Compare it to the underwhelming end of the Lannister twins. Another coin toss, as Jaime and Cersei are reunited, the moment playing like the finale of an epic love story. I’m genuinely confused by this scene - when Jaime left Brienne, I assumed his past was haunting him, not that he was returning to the love of his life. And Cersei wasn’t even lying about the pregnancy? Where is her belly?

The mutually abusive, murderous, incestuous relationship of the Lannister twins ends in a loving embrace, as Jaime’s ascent into hero is quietly forgotten. Kingslayer, child-murderer, noble knight - turns out, all the man with golden hand really wanted was to have sex with his sister.

Certainly not the end I was expecting, for either of them. I still don’t really know how I feel about it. Are we supposed to feel happy or sad for Jaime? I don’t really feel anything, if I’m being honest.

On a more positive note, the technical aspects of the episode are stunning, as they have been, consistently, throughout this season. The destruction of King's Landing was beautifully shot, the apocalyptic power of dragon fire finally delivered. This is a brutal conquest, Targaryen-style, the wheel of violence that Daenerys once wanted to break.

Arya soaks it all in, and presumably, adds another name to her list - Daenerys Targaryen. But first, she makes a bizarre attempt to rescue a mother and child by demanding that they flee their shelter, which results in their demise. The scene is amusingly reminiscent of that Lindsay Lohan video where she confusedly attempts to take a stranger’s child - you should really have left those people alone, Arya.

Ash-streaked and devastated, Arya leaps onto a white horse and rides off into the distance, heroically, presumably to do something about all that senseless suffering. I really, really hope that this show doesn’t end with Jon Snow unexpectedly stabbing Daenerys, only to pull off a mask and reveal Arya Stark. It worries me that I believe this to not only be possible, but probable.

We’ve flicked rapidly through villains this season - the Night King, to Euron, to Cersei, to Daenerys. I’m happy with the dragon queen revealing herself to be the true threat, but unsatisfied at the rapid transformation.

We’ve got one more episode left, and at this point, I’m enjoying the sheer spectacle, having accepted that coin flips are dictating future plot twists.

Random Observations

A fateful prophecy (outlined in a season 5 flashback) claimed that Cersei’s children would all die young. In the books, the prophecy also predicts Cersei would one day die at the hands of her brother, and the show fulfills that in an unexpected way, with Cersei dying in Jaime’s … loving(?) arms.

Jaime's decision makes less sense the more you consider it. Jaime's big reveal to Brienne that he saved the innocent inhabitants of King's Landing from the Mad King is really undercut by his apparent disregard for their lives now.

The Mountain could withstand being stabbed in the brain, much more solid than the fragile Night King; perhaps Qyburn should have engineered a few more zombie warriors to take down Daenerys’ army.

I hope Bronn's Highgarden promise isn't brought up next episode. After all this destruction, Tyrion trying to pitch the idea of gifting some random guy the most valuable property in Westeros would guarantee his burning alive by Drogon. Such stupidity would deserve it, frankly.

The next episode will presumably be a showdown between Jon Snow and Daenerys, with whoever received Varys' letters standing behind him. Will Jon Snow establish a democracy? That might be an interesting way to “break the wheel” of violence.